Each January, we’re ready to rock the next 12 months! And always by December, we’re a little shocked to look back and realize all that we’ve accomplished. That’s especially true for 2019.
It was an ambitious year!
We got to work with incredible clients who inspired us to go places we’d never gone before. We grabbed opportunities to listen to the marketing trends and leverage our 30+ years of expertise to create fantastic solutions.
We collaborated with each other and with our clients by hosting hundreds of telephone and video conference calls, and having countless real-time exchanges on Google docs. We even wrote on a few walls to help illustrate our ideas. (In our defense, they were designed for that purpose!)
And while we’ve been building and refreshing hard-working websites practically since the internet was invented, one of our proudest accomplishments happened in 2019 when orders poured into a client’s new ecommerce site a mere hours after it was launched.
We now speak fluent GRIN. We grew even more proficient at GroupHigh and Awario. And we’ve flexed our visual creativity 
muscles. This year, we’ve designed more charts, graphics and style guides than ever. And our many explainer videos have been a real hit among clients looking for fresh ways to communicate their products’ features and benefits.
And, speaking of muscles, we felt great (okay, maybe a little exhausted) crossing the finish line as participants in a client’s 5K team we helped organize.
We learned a lot about our complex world
In 2019, our team interviewed medical doctors, nutritionists, educators, entrepreneurs, scientists, authors, business leaders, theologians, philanthropists, performers, elite athletes and other highly respected experts who helped us build solid campaigns for our clients.
As part of this process, we all became quasi-experts in everything from the latest in gut/brain science (did you know that trillions of microorganisms live in our guts and that one of their jobs is to tell our brains if we’re happy?) to using 3D technology to increase a home’s resale value. And be sure to ask us about an ingenious new way to stop snoring!
We shared our clients’ stories all over the planet
With hundreds of our expertly written press releases and articles at their fingertips, our publicists placed our clients’ stories in all forms of media including traditional TV, print and radio, and top digital platforms, including YouTube and Instagram of course. We also tapped into the growing number of online influencers who told our clients’ stories to their legions of followers.
After all these years, it’s still a kick to see an interview we arranged appear in the Yahoo News feed, and to have an article we wrote for a client get printed in a major newspaper halfway around the world.
SAM who?
We feel insanely blessed that CEO Lonny Kocina’s book, “The CEO’s Guide to Marketing” remained on Amazon’s best-seller list throughout 2019 (a place it’s held since a month after its debut in 2017). Lonny’s book is a step-by-step guide to the same 
six-step marketing process we use daily. It’s called Strategically Aimed Marketing, or SAM 6® for short.
We could not have predicted that people from all over the country would read Lonny’s book then pick up the phone and ask to work with us. How cool is that?
We welcomed several new folks to our team
New energy … fresh perspectives … it’s always fun to engage with new talent. And our most recent additions jumped into their projects with an impressive amount of passion and drive. We’re talking about you: Coletta, Courtney, Matt, Reyna, Sarah and Joanna!
Wow, we’re humbled!
One of 2019’s biggest highlights was winning the 2019 Better Business Bureau Torch Awards for Ethics. This award, presented by the BBB of Minnesota and North Dakota, recognizes extraordinary area businesses that demonstrate an outstanding commitment to ethics and integrity in all aspects of their operations.
As Media Relations Agency partners Heather Champine (center) and Mike Danielson (far right) said when accepting the award, we just really believe in doing the right thing for each other and for our clients.
We have a clear vision for 2020 (yes, pun intended)
Our team is pumped! We are excited and energized about what lies ahead for us and our clients over the next 12 months. It will be a fantastic journey.
We’d love it if you joined us. We’ll help you reach your 2020 marketing goals and we’re pretty sure you’ll have fun working with us along the way.
So, what do you say? Give us a call at 952-697-5269 and let’s talk. Or, use our handy form to request information.
